I think it's Italy. The romans embraced Ancient Greece's legacy and spread it all over his Empire. Plus they were masters of goverment ( for the time) and codified laws that still up to this day are taught in universities. Then you have in the pre Renaissence period , they developed modern cities and established modern trade routes , as well as finance sistems. Documents like letters of trade were developed in Firenze  and Venice. They almost gave the kickoff to capitalism. First medical university was italian ( Salerno). Then you have the Renaissence period which was started in Italy and then spread all over Europe.

 

On top of that , columbus was italian

 

The roads.  Oh yes the roads.

Greeks were the thinkers, Romans the soldiers, the French eat stuff and the English first colonised the world and then imported the whole bloody place back to England.

 

Jeez, here's a first - a  and a  in the same post!!!

 

I'm hoping you were being ironic about the French reference - a little edit of a  would have helped 'cos otherwise it could indeed be construed as offensive.

 

But when it comes to your line about England (and, yes, I'm English), ironic or not you've made me laugh like a drain. I've already passed the line on to a couple of friends who nearly fell off their (bar) stools with laughter. You've just about summed up our national history in one half sentence - in an ironic sense, of course

 

As for the Romans: It was, of course, much too simplistic. Civilisation also has to thank the Roman Empire for the wondeful invention of the orgy.

 

Then it's just a case of saying: thanks for the best laugh I've had in ages

 

We English are good at taking the p*ss out of ourselves, but as we're naturally lazy when someone does it for us (and in this case better than we can) we're always grateful

 

'Fraid I have... and sometimes I feel rather inadequate...

 

I honestly thought you were German, that's why I thought the comment was extra funny, if you see what i mean

 

I'd never have doubted the irony if I'd known you were English - I rarely look up members' profiles

But that's a very long time ago now.

 

I should have included siam and Prussia as well!

 

My son goes to East Norfolk College (you've guessed it. Gorleston) and does as little there as I ever did in my UEA (UNI case you don't remember) days.

 

Norfolk's still a great place to be btw, and  most hearty regards from what is now (for marketing purposes) called, er, Nelson's County.

 

The real irony of picking up on your post is that I worked as the house Journailst for BASF (UK) but was responsible to Ludwigshafen for nearly 20 years. Went there many times and I have to say the Rhineland Palatinate is literally gorgeous in rain or shine.

 

Bit off topic now but if you want send a pm any time you're more than welcome

 

OK we know it's not the bagpipes you're referring to - so exactly what is this crazy musical instrument?*

 

 

*

And once the Romans went home, that's pretty much how it reverted. The legacy of the Roman Empire in England is pretty slight - when they left art, technology, society and language went with them, any Latin in the English Language was re-imported by the French (Normans) 600 years later. It was called The Dark Ages (Early Middle Ages) because we knew so little about it (relatively) compared to what we knew of the times either side of it - the fall of Roman Empire wiped the slate clean of any direct Roman and Greek legacy. The influence of Rome and Athens on later periods and later civilizations was more of reinvention and rediscovery, much of it romanticised.

 

What shaped modern society was the Argricultural Revolution and the Industrial Revolution, neither of which can be artibuted to Rome or Athens - it was figures like Jethro Tull and Richard Arkwright who have had a lasting "legacy" on Western civilisation, not Plato and Julius Caesar.

 

 

 

Please lets not turn it into a debate on the Health Service - lets turn it into a debate on BLACK PUDDING.  Although we will take the credit for inventing it - I'm not sure it's true.  You can get Morcilla in Spain and probably elsewhere?  And I think Morcilla is preferable to our noble offering. 

 

No doubt  the French, Greeks and Italians too have their own Black pudding too?

 

I spend about 10-15 per cent of the year in Spain and that 10-15 per cent of me is not offended.

 

However I promise next time I'm there I'll ask a random selection of folks around town if they, as indigenous Spaniards, are offended that they are not included in our poll. I will ask in a diplomatic fashion, but as my Spanish is not all that good yet this line of questiioning may spark a major international incident.

 

Or we could save me the effort by just asking the Spanish guys on the site

 

PS Other nations as well as Scotland and Ireland have bagpipes too, but I can't remember which.

 

I've tried Morcilla (although they call it something else in Mallorca, I think), and It's good.

 

Of course we have white pudding here too, and a traditional Irish breakfast is not complete without a slice of the black or the white.

 

Viva la Black Pudding Debate